Administrative law.

According to Black's Law Dictionary, administrative law is the body of law created by administrative agencies in the form of rules, regulations, orders, and decisions to carry out regulatory powers and duties of such agen­cies. Administrative law is the legal framework within which public administration is carried out. It derives from the need to create and develop a system of public admin­istration under law, a concept that may be compared with the much older notion of justice under law. Since admin­istration involves the exercise of power by the executive arm of government, administrative law is of constitu­tional and political, as well as juridical, importance.

There is no universally accepted definition of admin­istrative law, but rationally it may be held to cover the organization, powers, duties, and functions of public authorities of all kinds engaged in administration; their relations with one another and with citizens and nongov­ernmental bodies; legal methods of controlling public administration; and the rights and liabilities of officials. Administrative law is to a large extent complemented by constitutional law, and the line between them is hard to draw.

The organization of a national legislature, the struc­ture of the courts, the characteristics of a cabinet, and the role of the head of state are generally regarded as matters of constitutional law, whereas the substantive and procedural provisions relating to central and local governments and judicial review of administration are reckoned matters of administrative law. But some mat­ters, such as the responsibility of ministers, cannot be exclusively assigned to either administrative or consti­tutional law. Some French and American jurists regard administrative law as including parts of constitutional law.

The law relating to public health, education, housing, and other public services could logically be regarded as part of the corpus of administrative law; but because of its sheer bulk it is usually considered ancillary.